Lubricating means for well-drilling rotaries



ec. 20, 1949 A. R. MAIER 2,491,747

LUBRICATING MEANS FOR WELL DRILLING RoTAR-IES Filed Nov. 24, 1948 Q Q [Lhwentom' Patented Dec. 20, 1949 LUBRICATING MEANS FOR WELL-DRILLINGOTARIES August R. Maier, Dallas, Tex., assignor to Oil Well SupplyCompany, a corporation of New J ersey Application November 24, 1948,Serial No. 61.857

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to well drilling rotaries and particularly toimproved means for lubricating main hearings in such rotaries.

'In the well drilling art a rotary is a gear mechanism which isconnected to the grief stem at the top of a string of rotatable drillpipe and which translates rotation of a horizontal drive shaft to thevertical grief stem. Essentially a rotary comprises a fixed base or bedplate, a table rotatable on the bed plate, a main bearing composed ofballs or rollers to facilitate rotation, a ring gear fixed to the tableand a drive shaft and pinion rotatably mounted in the bed plate andconnected to a source of motive power. The bed plate and table form anenclosed chamber which contains a pool of lubricant. The pinion dipsinto the lubricant and thereby lubricates the ring gear. It is necessaryalso that lubricant from the pool circulate throughout the main bearing.v

An object of the present invention is to provide improved and simplifiedmeans for transferring lubricant from the pool in the bed plate to themain bearing.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved lubricanttransfer means which comprises a baflie and trough that intercept partof the lubricant thrown ofi by the driving pinion and divert suchlubricant to the main bearing, thereby eliminating the need for morecomplex systems with which I am familiar.

In accomplishing these and other objects of the invention, I haveprovided improved details of structure, a preferred form of which isshown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a well drillin rotarywhich has improved lubricating means embodying features of the presentinvention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on line II--IIof Figure l; and

Figure 3 is a side elevational View of the wall. and baffle which divertlubricant to the main bearing.

The improved lubricating means of the present invention is illustratedas embodied in a. rotary which comprises a fixed bed plate It, a tableit rotatable on said bed plate, a main bearing it having balls M tofacilitate such rotation, a bevel ring gear l5 fixed to said table, anda bevel driving pinion it, which meshes-with said ring gear. The pinionis keyed to a drive shaft Ill, which is connected to a source of powerfor motivating the rotary. The central portion of table it is open forreceiving a grlei stem, not shown, to which the drill string is joined.Inasmuch as the foregoing elements may be of any standard construction,no more de tailed description is deemed necessary. Also in accordancewith standard practice, the interior of the bed plate contains a chamberl8 beneath the driving pinion. Said chamber is adapted to contain a poolof lubricant and the driving pinion dips into this lubricant and conveysa portion to the ring gear for lubricating the latter.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide a vertical wall l9which preferably is integral with the bed plate and extends in a radialdirection with respect to the axis of rotation of the table and arisesfrom the floor of the lubricant chamber alongside the driving pinion.The top of this wall slopes upwardly toward said pinion and is situatedat a height preferably a little below the upper tangent of the pinion.The top of this wall thus forms an integral baffle 20 for interceptingpart of the lubricant which the driving pinion throws of! as it dipsinto the pool. In the radial direction the underface of the baffleslopes downwardly at approximately the angle of bevel of the pinion.Preferably the edge of the baffle adjacent the pinion has a downwardlyextending lip 21 that assists in intercepting lubricant. An integraltrough 22 extends beneath the baifie and slopes downwardly in a radialdirection and terminates adjacent the main bearing at a position fromwhich lubricant caught therein flows on to said main bearing. Thereforea portion of the lubricant thrown olf by the driving pinion is directedby the bafiie into the trough, from which it flows into the main bearingto lubricate the latter.

Lubricant may return from the main bearing to the pool via any suitableknown system, for example, such as that shown in my earlier Patent No.2,073,559, dated March 9, 1937, and assigned to the assignee of thepresent application.

From the foregoing description, it is seen that I have provided anextremely simple yet highly emcient means for lubricating main bearingsof well drilling rotaries.

While I have shown and described only a single embodiment of theinvention, it is apparent that modifications may arise. Therefore, I donot wish to be limited to the disclosure set forth but only by the scopeof the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a well drilling rotary including a bed on said table, and a pinionrotatably supported in said bed plate and driving said rin gear,

said bed plate providing a chamber for containing a pool of lubricantinto which said pinion dips, improved means for transferring lubricantfrom said chamber to said main bearing comprising a wall upstanding fromsaid chamber alongside said pinion, means on said wall for interceptinga portion of the lubricant thrown oii by said pinion as it dips intosaid chamber, and a trough on said wall for receiving lubricant thusintercepted and directing such lubricant to said main bearing.

2. In a well drilling rotary including a bed plate, a rotatable table, amain bearing supporting said table in said bed plate, a ring gear onsaid table, and a pinion rotatably supported in said bed plate anddriving said ring gear, said bed plate providing a chamber forcontaining a pool of lubricant into which said pinion dips,

improved means for transferring lubricant from 7 said chamber to saidmain bearing comprising a wall upstanding from said chamber alongsidesaid pinion, a battle at the top of said wall sloping toward said pinionior intercepting a'portion of the lubricant thrown ofi by said pinion asit dips into said chamber and a trough on said.

wall below said bafiie for receiving lubricant thus intercepted anddirecting such lubricant to said main bearing.

3. In a well drilling rotary including a bed plate, a rotatable table, amain bearing supporting said table in said bed plate, a ring gear onsaid table, and a pinion rotatably supported in plate, a rotatabletable, a main bearing supporting said table in said bed plate, a bevelring gear,

on said table, and a bevel pinion rotatably supported in said bed plateand driving said ring gear, said bed plate providing a chamber forcontaining a pool of lubricant into which said pinion dips, improvedmeans for transferring lubricant from said chamber to said main bearingcomprising an integral wall upstanding from the floor of said chamberand extending radially with respect to the axis of rotation of saidtable alongside said pinion, an integral bafile at the top of said wallsloping upwardly toward said pinion and sloping in the radial directionat approximately the angle of bevel of said pinion, said baiile beingadapted to intercept a portion of the lubricant thrown ofl by saidpinion as the latter dips into said chamber, and an integral trough onsaid wall below said baille for receiving lubricant thus intercepted,said trough sloping downwardly in the radial direction toward said mainbearing and terminating adjacent said main bearing for directinglubricant thereto.

AUGUST R. MAIER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,017,260 Smith Oct. 15, 19352,053,929 Weidmaier Sept. 8, 1936

